Uinta County School District #1
Weekly Newsletter-February 2018, Volume 15
As many of you may already know, our district was scheduled for an AdvancED on-site accreditation review next fall. Well…. the WDE has discontinued the contract with AdvancED and will now be conducting the accreditation reviews themselves. Although the process is not yet complete (including whether we are still going to be reviewed next year), we think it is important to share with you what the WDE is considering.
The good news is that much of the work we have been doing on collaborative curriculum development and common assessment development is directly in line with what the WDE will be looking for. As we anticipated, the accreditation criteria follow the High Reliability Schools framework for levels one through three. Jan Hoegh from Marzano Research Labs is even one of the evaluators. Please take a look and let us know if you have any questions.
-FOCUS OF ACCREDITATION-
Districts will complete annual assurances and an Evidence Matrix put together by Bill Pannell. These documents will be submitted to the Department by November 1 of each year. Once every five years, districts will host an onsite review by the Department. During the onsite review, the Department will “.... conduct a review of each school district’s assessment system to ensure alignment with the uniform state education standards promulgated by the state board, and to ensure district adherence to the uniform graduation standards prescribed by the state board under W.S. 21-2-304 (a) (iii)1.”
Jan Hoegh with Marzano Research, Shelly Andrews and Bill Pannell with the Department of Education, and up to three members of the District Assessment System Steering Committee will serve as the DAS onsite review team. This onsite review will focus on the following three indicators and accompanying questions:
- What process is in place to ensure assessments align to standards both in terms of content and cognitive complexity?
- Has the district included a process for unpacking standards? If so, what process was used? If not what was the reasoning?
- Have the essential elements within each content area been identified? If so, what process was used? If not what was the reasoning?
- Has the amount of time needed to adequately address the essential elements of the content taught been examined? If so, what process was used? If not what was the reasoning?
- Has professional development been provided regarding alignment of assessments to standards? What type of training was provided?
- What process is used for developing quality classroom assessments?
- How does the process address fairness and consistency of assessments?
- What process is used for determining success criteria and/or levels of mastery for classroom assessments?
- Are students provided multiple opportunities to demonstrate mastery of essential elements? How are they provided opportunities?
- Are protocols in place for assessment administration?
3. Analysis of data for monitoring student progress on the Wyoming Content and Performance Standards.
- What data are you gathering with the DAS and how are you using it?
- Are assessment data analyzed regularly? When does this happen?
- Do you report on and use the results from multiple assessments to analyze student progress toward mastery of the standards?
- Is growth data for each student available and regularly reviewed to track student achievement?
- Are there regular data review meetings among teachers and instructional teams? If so, what does this look like?
- How do your teachers and instructional teams utilize data to address successes and areas needing attention?
- Do outcomes on your district assessments align to the progress documented on content and performance standards through formative classroom assessments?
- How does the measure of student performance on the DAS factor into course completion and graduation decisions?
The onsite team will prepare a formal, written report to the districts. Levels of Accreditation Through the accreditation process, the Department will evaluate and accredit Wyoming districts and schools based on adherence to statutes and the Wyoming Accountability Framework. The following levels of accreditation are in discussion with the State Board:
● Accredited
● Accredited with Follow-up
● Accredited with Support
● Non-accredited
The State Board may lower the annual accreditation status for an individual school based on WAEA school performance.
Evidence
In addition to the District Assessment Review, Chapter 6 Rules will be self-assessed and reported by districts. Bill Pannell and the Department’s Accreditation team is putting together a set of rubrics and evidence matrices to guide districts in the new accreditation processes.
But What About AdvancED?
As most members are aware, the Department will no longer fund the costs associated with AdvancED. Districts, if they choose to stay with AdvancED, will be responsible for annual membership fees ($900 per school). The Department intends to create a rotating grant (up to $10,000) that districts can apply for once every five years that could be used to cover the cost of the AdvancED External Review.
The Department is working on procedures to allow districts to write this grant to fund other review options as well that would better align to district goals.
Stay Tuned!
CONGRATULATIONS TO ROTARY STUDENT OF THE MONTH-LILY JOHNSON!
SUBSTITUTES WANTED
BIRTHDAYS!
26th-Colin Botts, Melinda Tollefson, Rhonda Hatch
27th-Joel Rennard, Korbin Wagstaff
28th-Valerie Hurst
MARCH
2nd-Stacee Rasmussen
3rd-Cami Mueller
4th-Marquis Rennard, Nannett Hill, Wendy Pratt
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
UCSD#1 Administration
Cheri Dunford, Supt., Board Exec. Assistant Ext. 1021
Dr. Joseph Ingalls, Assistant Superintendent K-5 Ext. 1026
Doug Rigby, Assistant Superintendent 6-12 Ext. 1025
Alicia Johnson, Instructional Services Admin. Asst. Ext. 1024
Kristine Hayduk, Human Resources Ext. 1023
Matt Williams, SPED Director Ext. 1040
Shannon Arellanes, SPED Admin. Asst. Ext. 1041
Bubba O'Neill, Activities Director Ext. 1060
Dauna Bruce, Activities Admin. Asst. Ext. 1061
John Williams, Business Director, Ext. 1030
Jaraun Dennis, Facilities Director, Ext. 1075
Email: ajohnson@uinta1.com
Website: uinta1.com
Location: 537 10th Street, Evanston, WY, USA
Phone: 3077897571
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Uinta-County-School-District-1-Pathway-to-Excellence-480272945367024/
Twitter: @ucsd1